http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7268310.stm Well, there you go. Not a bad effort, huh? edit-some reports said 12 hours swimming, the other guy floated on debris for 30 hours or so. Bloody amazing.
What a pussy...we had a squid fall off the Tarawa in the IO...he washed up on a fishing boat in Madagascar 36 hours later.
Um, dead or alive? Besides, i thought squid were reasonable swimmers, generally. "Back when i were a lad, had to swim 20mile to school, 'an on 'da way hoom, dragg'ed a nett, 'ta get fish f'oh supper. And were d'a net not full, whens we got 'oome the next dey, wells we's got a wuppin, me tells ya, fyr sure 'an begorrah, kipper me tiplins 'an banarggh me calaarphangarr, nought a wa'rd of a loy. It was roof, back 'den, me tells ya."
He was alive....no fault of his own though...Squids generally are fat and ugly. I think he floated on his own blubber. Much like Army pukes...
Ok, i have to say, you seem kinda down on this story. A few people not accounted for, presumed dead at this stage...a couple alive, after amazing feats of endurance. I have to say, based on comments allegedly made by said alive persons, along the lines of "nobody knew where we were, better off swimming for it" that something doesn't add up there, i agree. Why didnt anyone know where they were? Initially, it occured to me it may have been a poaching operation, but i dont much care, its just amazing. Army pukes? Err, these are fishermen doc, not really the place for interservice rivalries or P&L. Dontcha think? I sure as heck wouldnt last 10 hours in open ocean/surf, my guess is you wouldnt either, whats with the bitterness, you know, i mean get a grip here. "Sea turtles....ay, sea turtles".
Oh, right. I have to say, the endurance of these characters is amazing. If you look at the map on that story, and use google earth to calculate distance, then the magnitude of this may sink in. The guy was swimming toward the town lights/lighthouse of byron bay, (all he had to do was swim west, celestial navigation, not that it would help as such) and ended up a looong way north of them; amazingly, his crewman, clinging to flotsam , lasted 30 HOURS in this sea, and was found, equal distance below byron bay, out to sea. Im not sure which is more amazing, both are equally difficult. And if you have never swam (swum?) in surf, let me tell you, what these guys did was better than swimming the english channel.
Oh please, I did that last Tues. I may do it again next Tues. You don't hear me bragging about it, do you? H (no, really, that's pretty cool)
Yeah, i mean holy crap!!! I thought i would post this, for no other reason than it's just incredible. My bet, is there would, over time, have been dozens, maybe hundreds (or thousands, or tens of thousands, or more) of people who have performed more amazing feats at sea, just none left alive to tell the tale.
I hear ya, I'm currently at sea posting from flotsdam myself, curios incident though, an American submarine just surfaced. The American captain opens the hatch and asks: "Which way is Alaska?" I pointed my finger: "That way!" "Thanks!" says the American, shouts "South-South-East, bearing 159.5 degrees!" down the hatch and the submarine submerges. Ten minutes later a Soviet submarine emerges. The Russian captain opens the hatch and asks the me: "Where did the American submarine go?" I replied: "South-South-East bearing 159.5 degrees!" "Don't be a smart-ass," says the captain, "just point with your finger!"